Drug consumption ambulance to tour UK’s worst drug death areas in bid to open facilities

A customised ambulance used to defy Westminster’s ban on safe drug facilities in Scotland will tour some of the UK’s areas worst hit by drug deaths.

The bright yellow “ Overdose Prevention Centre ” kitted out by activist Peter Krykant will also visit the Welsh, Northern Irish and UK parliaments as it makes a powerful push for modern, life saving drug interventions.

Campaigners believe a fully authorised, legal, NHS-operated OPC will be set up in Scotland within months rather than years, given the huge support north of the border.

It is hoped that will signal a sea change in attitudes in the rest of the UK, with further moves towards decriminalising drug possession to rapidly follow.

The Daily Record was on board Krykant’s first OPC when it launched in September last year and we watched as it became an accepted part of the drugs scene in Glasgow city centre, where addicts would otherwise be injecting drugs in dingy street corners and alleys.

Krykant, who has battled addiction himself, has donated the facility to the Transform Drug Policy Foundation and their Anyone’s Child campaign, which will conduct the UK tour.

Martin Powell, of Transform, said: “Transform is grateful that Peter has given us his Overdose Prevention Service ambulance.

“We intend taking the ambulance alongside our Anyone’s Child families, who have all been harmed by the current approach to drugs, to Westminster, the Senedd and Stormont – it has already been to Holyrood – and a series of public events in the heart of the communities most affected by drug deaths and street drug use, up and down the country.

“The tour will engage with the public and politicians, and explain how a health-led approach to drugs, including Overdose Prevention Centres, benefits everyone with the ambulance set up just as it has been used in Glasgow as the centrepiece.

“While the ambulance will not be used to supervise injections, we will be exploring other ways it can support measures to reduce drug harms in future.”

The tour will kick off in Leeds later this month, with the facility kitted out exactly the same fashion as it was operated by Krykant.

The Falkirk based crusader and supporters including Labour MSP Paul Sweeney, supervised over 800 injections by people whose lives were under constant threat.

The team treated multiple overdoses, using with the heroin antidote Naloxone, that could otherwise have been fatal.

They also been providing safer injecting advice and sterile needles to prevent HIV infections from sharing.

It is now believed that the Scottish Government is on the brink of finding a legally robust way to open official Overdose Prevention Centres.

Krykant said: “I believe we are most certainly moving towards the official launch of these centres in Scotland – hopefully in every city. And I hope that will lead to every city where there is a perceived need in the UK.

“Handing over the mobile Overdose Prevention Centre to Transform and their Anyone’s Child project is the next step in pushing for wider drug policy changes.

“When I started the service one day a week from the back of a rusty old van it was always about showing that our laws are outdated and not fit for purpose. Little did I know that we would gain national and international support, plus recognition for breaking down barriers towards providing evidence-based ways to reduce harm from public injecting drug use, an issue that has lasted for decades in the UK.

“Having upgraded to an ambulance, operating four days a week, and supervising around five injections per hour as well as helping reverse a number of overdoses that could have been fatal, we achieved a lot.

“However we now need wider change, with official sites needed to be able to deal with mass public injecting across numerous cities. Having the ambulance in the hands of this organisation will help deliver a health response to a health issue, and I look forward to seeing it at many events across the UK.”

The centres, sometimes called Drug Consumption Rooms or Safer Drug Consumption facilities, are proven to save lives, reduce HIV infections and help get people into treatment – all major targets for Scotland’s drugs policy minister Angela Constance.

Martin Powell added: “Over the last year, more than 800 injections were supervised in the vehicle in Glasgow, with multiple overdoses reversed and not a single death.

“Importantly, Peter’s work has also catalysed a change in political and public opinion towards Overdose Prevention Centres in Scotland with an official site closer to opening than ever.

“We will build on Peter’s amazing work to take the message to communities and politicians that record drug deaths, and street injecting are not inevitable, to persuade the UK Government that they too should back a new approach to drugs, including Overdose Prevention Centres.”

Pat Hudson’s son Kevin Lane died in a locked toilet in Carmarthen town centre, in Wales, in December 2017.

Pat, of the Transform campaign Anyone’s Child: Families for Safer Drug Control, said: “With the UK experiencing record levels of overdose deaths we need to start introducing innovative harm reduction measures, like Peter’s van, to stop our loved ones from dying.

“No-one has ever died in an overdose prevention centre. I believe my son would be alive today, and several of his friends, had there been such a centre in Carmarthen.

“I hope that our campaign will influence policy and break down stigma around this issue. We urgently need the Home Secretary to speak out and to allow these vital life-saving centres to open, to stop other families losing loved ones in such a needless way.”